When he wasn't gazing at the stars above Weatherfield through his telescope, Curly Watts was gazing forlornly at Raquel Wolstenhulme across the Rovers Return bar.

As Coronation Street's loser-in-love, Curly became one of the nation's best-loved soap characters, largely for his doomed relationship with dizzy Raquel and his comedy double act with Reg Holdsworth.

Kevin Kennedy played Curly for 20 years and since leaving the cobbles he has carved a career in musical theatre.

Next month he arrives in Bradford playing eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's the only Yorkshire stop on a UK tour which follows a smash hit four-year run at the London Palladium.

When Potts is persuaded by his children to restore a run-down car they set off on a spectacular adventure, together with Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts, hotly pursued by the creepy Child Catcher and dastardly Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria who is after the car.

Kevin is the first actor ever to have played both the roles of Caractacus Potts and the Child Catcher.

"Initially I played the Child Catcher and when it came to casting a new Caractacus I pestered Michael (producer Michael Rose) for the role," says Kevin. "He gave me a chance and I've never looked back. It was my first proper leading man role. It's been an almighty challenge but I'm loving every minute.

"Soap stars tend to be criticised for not being very versatile, so I hope my success in this show hits back at that. There are three soap stars in leading roles in this production - myself, Ken Morley (Baron Bomburst) and Tony Adams (Grandpa Potts) - so there is life after soap."

Kevin feels he has grown into the role of kindly father Caractacus Potts. "I'm the right age for him, and I'm a dad too, so I know where he's coming from.

"Chitty is a show about how grief breaks up a family. Thanks to the magic car, the family is put back together. And Caractacus is the one who gets the car going. It's a universal story; "I've just spent seven weeks doing the show in Singapore and although the audiences weren't familiar with it, they loved it.

"It works on different levels; children love the car and the whole spectacle and adults appreciate the themes of family, love and loss.

"Caractacus is a busy inventor who lets his children get away with a lot. He's slightly potty and great fun to play. There's a love story element, with Truly Scrumptious. He starts off disliking her because she comes between him and his children but he grows to realise how much they mean to him.

"I've got two young daughters and it's lovely for them to see me play Caractacus. It was slightly worrying when they saw me as the Child Catcher! He has no redeeming features, he's pure evil and that's how I played him. There's no panto element involved; he has audiences recoiling in terror! He's one of those scary characters from childhood that people never forget."

While there may be less make-up involved in playing Caractacus, the role has brought challenges of its own.

"I've learned to dance - thanks to Gillian Lynne, one of the world's best dance teachers - and I've had to re-train my voice," says Kevin, who sings with his band Bunch of Thieves. "Musical theatre is a real discipline, it's harder on the voice than belting out rock songs."

And with a host of special effects - not least the flying car, weighing a tonne-and-a-half - and a cast and crew of more than 100, including ten dogs and a dozen children, there's plenty to get to grips with on stage.

"It's a very tricky show, props-wise," says Kevin. "There are all kinds of inventions on stage, things exploding and flying into the air. My favourite invention is the hair-cutting machine.

"We have to get the timing just right. Backstage it's like one of those 1920s films where everyone is running around and it's all speeded up.

"Everything rests on the car; when it takes off it's amazing. I must have seen it a thousand times and it's always a huge thrill.

"When I'm in the car it flies over the audience and I can see children's faces up close, they're mesmerised. Nothing has been cut from the Palladium production, it's not a scaled-down show."

Kevin is no stranger to theatre, having appeared in shows such as Chicago, The Rocky Horror Show and No Sex Please We're British, and his TV credits include Blue Murder and two series of Kevin's Spanish Capers which he wrote and presented.

But it's as Curly Watts that we know him best. He joined the Street in 1983 as a young binman and left in 2003 after earning his stripes as a supermarket manager.

When the show comes to Bradford, Kevin will be reunited with his old Corrie co-star Ken Morley who played Reg Holdsworth. Back in the mid-Nineties Reg and Curly were one of the nation's best-loved double acts as the pompous Bettabuys manager and his hapless deputy.

"We were almost like an offshoot sitcom," says Kevin. "It was a great time, although people don't realise how tough a soap schedule can be, especially when it's five episodes a week. Soap actors are the hardest working actors on TV.

"I've kept in touch with Ken, it'll be great to join him on stage. I've been phoning him, teasing him about how terrifying it's going to be!"

  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang runs at the Alhambra from February 11 to April 5, 2008. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.